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Brian Bear, City of Hugo November 16, 2022 Page 2 K:\020552-000\Admin\Docs\Memo - 2022 Data Summary and Recommendation - 111622.docx The FQI is an indication of native vegetative quality for an area: generally, 1-19 indicates low vegetative quality, 20-35 indicates high vegetative quality, and above 35 indicates “Natural Area” quality. Wetlands with an FQI of 20 or greater are considered high-quality aquatic resources. WSB completed a comprehensive meander survey throughout the site, and at the various sample locations. Every species observed was recorded and entered into the assessments. B. Macro Plot Site Selection Three macro plots were selected at the site to be representative of the wetland vegetation communities. Each macro plot was sited to provide a representative vegetation composition. Locations of macro plots are shown on Attachment A. C. Cover/Frequency Survey The FIREMON Cover/Frequency (CF) method was used to assess the changes in plant species cover and frequency within the selected macro plots. This method was selected because the aerial coverage data can be used to estimate species coverage throughout the entir e site. Macro plots were 66-feet long by 66-feet wide, divided into five evenly spaced transects. Along each transect, 5 evenly spaced sampling quadrats were placed at 12, 24, 36, 48, and 60 feet along the transect. Quadrats were 20 inches by 20 inches in size and all vegetation data was collected from the rooted vegetation within each quadrat. Cover was assessed by visually estimating the percent of a quadrat occupied by vertical projection of vegetation onto the ground. Data for plant species frequency was recorded as the nested rooted frequency (NRF) of a species within subplots of each quadrant. The NRF essentially estimated the percent area of the quadrat that contained each species using subplots of 1:25:50:100 percent ratios of the quadrat. All transects within each microplot were surveyed on the same day. The name, status (dead or alive), cover class, NRF, and plant height were recorded for every species observed within each quadrat. D. Analysis Data collected from each macro plot was entered into the Universal FQA Calculator (Freyman et al. 2015), an open-source tool available to the public to evaluate collected data. The FQI is based on coefficient of conservatism (C) values, which according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), is a numerical value ranging from 0-10 of a species’ fidelity to specific habitats and tolerance to disturbance. Plants that have narrow habitat requirements and little tolerance for disturbance will have high C values. C values were obtained from the Universal FQA Calculator and the outputs are included in Attachment B. A mean C (𝐶) value was calculated for each macro plot by summing the C values and dividing by the total number of species observed. The 𝐶 represents the average conservatism of the plant community. By repeating surveys and calculating the 𝐶 over time, temporal changes in floristic quality can be evaluated (a decrease in 𝐶 is equivalent to a decrease in habitat quality). FQI was calculated from the 𝐶 by multiplying by the square root of the total number of species observed. This gives a weighted species richness estimate that uses the square root transformation of N to limit the influence of area alone on species richness (Swink and Wilhelm, 1979, 1994). D. Results The FQA Summary is included in Table 1. In summary, all wetlands contain low vegetative quality as listed in the “Total FQI” column in Table 1. FQA detailed results are included as Attachment 2.